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The hoaxes that made fake people famous

How likely is it that people can be made up out of thin air and a bunch of rumors? In the age of Facebook, pretty likely. But it’s happened before — long before the rise of social media. We haven’t got to the point where we can make people disappear. But there have been some…

Confirmed: All The New Kindle Fires Will Have Ads That You Can’t Get Rid Of (Updated)

Before you get too excited about picking up a new Kindle Fire, there’s something you should know: it’s going to have ads, and you won’t be able to get rid of them. According to CNET, Amazon has confirmed that each and every model of the new Kindle Fire (7-inch, 8.9-inch, 4Gm etc) will have “Special…

Use This Magnetic Project Mat and Never Get Screwed By Losing Screws

The most annoying part of any DIY project is trying to keep a handle on all the little screws. If you’ve found yourself fishing under the couch for errant parts one too many times, this Magnetic Project Mat might be just what you need. Adorned with a grid, this mat lets you organize your screws,…

This Dealzmodo Exclusive Is Your iPhone-5-Compatible Deal of the Day

Now is the worst time to buy an iPhone accessory. We don’t actually know what Apple’s going to release on September 12, but we can count on it being different than the 4S. We’ve heard rumors that it will have a different dock connector, and probably a different body, but the one thing you can…

Holy Crap They Put Candy Corn in Oreos

As if there wasn’t enough temptation this time of year with store shelves overflowing with Halloween candy, now Nabisco has created this weird mutant lovechild of deliciousness that will be impossible to resist. The intoxicating white ‘creme’ that has made Oreos popular for over a century is now being enhanced with the essence of candy…

Nokia’s colossal lie about the Lumia 920’s camera reportedly leads to an internal ethics investigation. [NYT]

Has the Moon created the world’s most enduring optical illusion?

Since the time of Aristotle, people have noticed that the moon looks a lot bigger just as it’s rising than it does when it’s high in the sky. We’re now in the time of NASA, and we still don’t exactly know what it is that causes a low moon to be a monster moon. We…

Lightspeed Presents . . . “My Wife Hates Time Travel” by Adam-Troy Castro

io9 is proud to present fiction from Lightspeed Magazine. Once a month, we’ll be featuring a story from Lightspeed’s current issue. This month’s selection is ” My Wife Hates Time Travel ” by Adam-Troy Castro. Enjoy! My Wife Hates Time Travel Adam-Troy Castro From the very beginning—which I guess is also the middle and the…

Foldable Bike Helmet Stretches to Fit Your Oddly Shaped Head

Helmets are a crucial piece of safety equipment, but unless they fit just right, they can get uncomfortable. This new helmet by Carrera aims to solve that problem by stretching laterally to fit your fat (or not-so-fat) head. The design is inspired by old, leather helmets that had a bit more give to them. With…

Why are mushrooms more like humans than they are like plants?

You may have heard, from the internet or from someone making idle conversation at a cocktail party, that mushrooms are more like humans than they are like plants. What does that even mean? We’ll work it out for you. Occasionally, when people assert scientific facts in everyday life, I get annoyed. A prime example is…

And now, a dick in a box from the 1800s

Decades before Saturday Night Live immortalized genitalia ensconced in storage containers using the power of song, rascals of the Victorian era had long perfected this art. In 2008, Christie’s auctioned off “a spring-loaded erotic carved wood novelty box, perhaps 19th century, 8 in. (20 cm.) long” for $1,214. Is this a bargain? That answer depends…

Keep Your Greedy Hands Off My Gear

Hey, friend—or, roommate/party host/relative/girlfriend’s acquaintance—can I play around with your valuable electronic devices? Can I pick them up and start poking at them without asking? No! At least, probably not. Gadgets are all around us, getting casually thrown around and scooped up. Sometimes, the gadgets we’re pawing aren’t ours. But a tablet is not a…

NextGuide for iPad: Because Finding Stuff to Watch Should Be Easier

Once upon a time when you weren’t sure what to watch, you’d just channel surf. At most it required cycling through dozens of channels. Now we have hundreds of channels, and thousands of streaming options. It can be overwhelming, and that’s where Dijit’s NextGuide wants to help. NextGuide is an app that will—in theory—allow you…

The 11 Biggest Lies Ever Told By Our Favorite Heroes and Villains

Thanks to the Republican and Democratic Conventions still in our recent memory, everyone’s obessed with the swarms of little (and big) lies that escape from the lips of our leaders on the campaign trail. But it’s not just politicians that tell huge, sweeping falsehoods — so do great epic heroes and villains. https://gizmodo.com/read-obama-and-romneys-answers-to-the-countrys-top-scie-5940676 Here are…

R2D2 Luggage Would Be Way Cooler If It Automatically Followed You Around

Since no one here on earth currently has the need for an astromech droid capable of light spaceship repairs, re-purposing R2D2 as an autonomous suitcase is a brilliant idea. So it’s kind of disappointing that this rolling artoo luggage has to be manually dragged along. Created by Salvador Bachiller, the R2D2 luggage—sorry—”Robot Trolley” luggage is…

The Infamous Google Hackers Are Still Out There, Exploiting Our Computers

Nearly three years ago, Google was hacked by a group that was almost certainly sponsored by the Chinese Government. But as Wired tells it, the assignment for that group wasn’t a one-off thing. In fact, they’ve executed no fewer than 8 zero-day attacks on websites over the past three years, and have compromised at least…

Self-Powered Wireless Window Sensors Provide Foolproof Security

Window sensors have long been a part of security systems, but since they all rely on wires so they can be constantly monitored, there’s the potential for them to be compromised. That’s not the case with these new wireless sensors which are invisible when installed, and don’t even require an outside power source. Developed at…

The first alien abduction story was also the weirdest

You might not think that Syfy’s Warehouse 13 was influenced by alien abductions in particular — but Warehouse 13 writer Deric Hughes was obsessed with stories about UFOs and abductions, growing up. We caught up with Hughes and he told us how his UFOlogy obsession influences his writing. And he tells us about the first,…

Astronauts Using DSLRs… In Spaaaaaaaaace!

This mother of all self-portraits was shot on Wednesday by Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide while on a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station. If this doesn’t make you swear off duckface mirror smartphone selfies forever, you’re beyond redemption. The EXIF data in the photo—which was uploaded to NASA’s 2Explore Flickr feed—shows that astronaut…

This book is the perfect gift for the weird kid in your life

Adam-Troy Castro rocked our world with his Andrea Cort novels and stories (and later today, we’re republishing a story of his that just appeared in Lightspeed Magazine.) So we were thrilled to see that he’s written a children’s book, Gustav Gloom and the People Taker. It’s the story of a weird little boy living in…